The Caribbean Tourism Organization describes the German market as the largest outbound market in the world. This is so because Germans are entitled to at least five weeks of annual holiday. Julia Hendry, director of marketing for the CTO in the UK and Europe says that there is terrific potential for the Caribbean to take a bigger share of this enormous outbound market, particularly with the current strength of the euro against the dollar.
?In a strong, vertically integrated market, packages to Cuba and the Dominican Republic do extremely well but we need to encourage a wider spread of business to the region,? said Hendry. CTO hosted a Karibik Forum that brought together expert speakers to explore new paths to the Caribbean and focus on the diversity of the entire region.
The ITB Berlin was expected to attract over 10,000 exhibitors from 180 countries, 6,700 journalists from 84 countries, and over 140,000 visitors of which more than 75,000 are trade.